


Bearing Witness

by speedy



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-13
Updated: 2009-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-11 15:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedy/pseuds/speedy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes even the last of the Time Lords has to stand aside and let the cruel hand of fate do what it will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bearing Witness

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Children of Earth, Last of the Time Lords  
> The Whoniverse belongs to the BBC. I'm just playing in their sandbox.

The Doctor stays far enough away from the mourners he won't be noticed, regardless of the TARDIS key perception filter hanging from his neck. He's sure if Jack sees him right now, a regeneration would soon follow.

He probably shouldn't be here at all, but he felt he had to bear witness to every moment of this horror for Jack. His friend had paid a very high price to save the world, a tragedy that would haunt him for centuries to come, but it was necessary for the future survival of humanity.

For history to unfold as it should, Steven Carter and Ianto Jones had to die.

He watches as the small casket is lowered into the ground. He watches as Alice finally breaks down and Jack's arms wrap around her, her fingers digging into his great coat. He'd watched their terrible confrontation earlier; she doesn't want her father here, but she has no one else to hold on to; he's punishing himself just by being here.

A year of torture at the hands of the Master, of dying and watching his friends die, and Jack never broke, not once. He came back stronger and more determined every time. But now he's shattered into a million pieces and he'll never be put right again.

The Doctor knows Jack will be hitching a ride offworld soon. They'll meet again in a diamond mine a hundred light years from Earth in two years' time. It's already happened for him.

He watches as the mourners disperse, as Alice pushes Jack away and he lets her, as he turns away to join Gwen Cooper and her husband. Gwen will tell him about UNIT securing the blast site, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's visit tomorrow to survey the damage and make arrangements for the removal of the archives, the visit the Doctor pulled every string he had to make happen.

Tomorrow is Ianto Jones's funeral, the one he planned and paid for his first year at Torchwood.

Tomorrow Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart will visit Alice Carter and explain why her son had to be sacrificed, why there is a big crater where the Torchwood Hub used to be. The Doctor has already given him the files, right after he sent a copy to Sarah Jane. The truth will not be buried.

Alice will blow up at Jack again before a month is up. He'll throw her the keys to what's left of Torchwood on his way out of Britain. Fueled by grief and rage, she'll make it what it should be. She'll be a force to be reckoned with. She's her father's daughter.

Jack will track down the 456 home world and wipe them from the face of creation. The Doctor knows he should stop him, but he won't. He's lived through this kind of pain, he won't deny his friend vengeance.

Sometimes even the last of the Time Lords has to stand aside and let the cruel hand of fate do what it will.


End file.
